First Weekend of Banding 2023

Hello Everyone, 

 

Here we go again, starting OUR 54th YEAR in the Mattson Farm hayfield!!! 

This is my first report of the 2023 banding season, covering the weekend of September 2nd, 2023. 

Saturday, September 2nd 

Trudi and I met Rick at Hawk Harbor at 8:00 am. Rick had come up the night before and was ready to go. We loaded up his truck and headed up to the banding station in the Mattson hayfield. Trudi and I had been up the weekend before to mow and clean up the blind so there was very little preparation left to do. We put up the nets and were ready to start the first weekend of our 54th consecutive year of trapping hawks in the Mattson hayfield!!! The forecast called for three days of some very hot but clear conditions. The wind was light out of the southwest, so we didn't expect to see much at all in the way of migrating birds. 

We did see some shins hunting the draw at the other end of the field when we drove up, but nothing coming over our way. About a half an hour after we started, a big adult female Cooper's Hawk came blasting out of the woods from behind us and hit the back net! Hooray!!! We got our first bird of the 54th season banded, recorded, and in the books!!! 

Around 10:00, we started seeing some migrating Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, American Kestrels, and a few Sharp-shinned Hawks trying to catch a thermal. One of the shins saw our lure, locked on, and came right in! Bird number two in the books! 

Another young female shin came in about an hour later, accompanied by a young male. The female got caught and the male went on his way. Bird number three in the books! 

By 1:00, it was getting very hot in the blind. The outside temperature was around 89° f and the inside of the blind was turning into an oven. Fortunately, our "Tech Guru" Rick had brought along some fans with a portable power-pack to run them. Thank You, Rico!!! 

Around 3:00, we saw a Merlin come zipping into the field and start buzzing the kestrels. After a few minutes of harassing them, he caught sight of our lure, and, as Merlins do, he powered right into the front net! While we were banding the Merlin, we noticed three people walking up to the blind. It was our falconer friend Bruce Gilbertson from Duluth and Mr. and Mrs. Mattson, who own the hayfield we have been trapping in for these many years. It was so nice to be able to show them a "hawk in hand"! I set up a shot that was supposed to show the three of them releasing the Merlin, but when I hit the shutter release, I forgot that the camera was still in the ten second delay mode and the Merlin was long gone before the shutter went off. Rats!!! 

The Mattsons headed home and Bruce stayed to help us spot hawks and then to close down the banding station at 5:00. When we got back down to Hawk Harbor, Bruce presented Trudi and me with one of his beautiful falcon carvings! My brother Mike was up for the weekend and also met us at Hawk Harbor. Bruce headed home and Trudi, Rick, Mike, and I went in to eat supper at Culvers in Two Harbors. 

We got a total of 4 birds and no bounce-outs on Saturday. 

2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, and 1 Merlin. 

Sunday, September 3rd 

Sunday morning was predicted to be even hotter than Saturday. We loaded the banding gear into Rick's truck then Trudi and I jumped on the tailgate for our morning ride up to the blind. We watched a beautiful sunrise as we rode up across the field. We had the nets reset by 7:15 and settled in to look for some birds. 

About an hour later, a young female shin that was out in the draw flew in with a male shin to check us out. They took turns swooping in and out between the nets and finally the female hit the back net! We banded it, released it and sat back to look for more. Lots of Blue Jays and American Robins were moving through. The Jays stopped by to sample the corn I had put out for them in the field in front of us. We also had some migrating American White Pelicans fly right over the blind! 

Just after 10:00, a male American Kestrel shot in from the field without anyone seeing his approach! We banded him, took some photos, and sent him back on his way south. By then the sun hitting the front of the blind was making it almost too hot for the fans to keep up, but we stayed at it! 

A half hour later, we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk circling up over the north end of the field. Before it got too high, it saw our lure and set its wings to come straight in. This one was still in heavy molt, with a lot of feathers only half way down. We banded it, took photos, and sent it back out to find another thermal. 

By this time the temperature outside the blind was at 92° f and the inside was roasting, fans or no fans. So, we decided to close down at noon. Five minutes before noon, a young male shin came in and landed above our nets. Rick used his expert luring technique to send it into the back net! Bird number eight for the weekend! 

The weather forecast for Monday was for continued high temperatures and strong winds from the southeast. We decided to head for home and beat the heat and the heavy traffic that would be on the roads the next day. We felt pretty good about our first weekend of banding, getting eight birds banded and five species! 

We got a total of 4 birds and no bounce-outs on Sunday. 

2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, and 1 American Kestrel. 

8 total birds for the weekend. 

8 total birds for the season. 

Please help hawks by supporting: Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (www.hawkridge.org) Midwest Peregrine Society (https://midwestperegrine.umn.edu/) 

National Eagle Center (www.nationaleaglecenter.org) 

Raptor Resource Project (https://www.raptorresource.org/) 

The Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu) 

Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch (http://ospreywatch.blogspot.com/) 

Keep your eyes on the skies! 

Trudi & Frank Taylor

1. Riding up to the blind on Rick's tailgate.

2. First hawk of the year was an adult female Cooper's Hawk.

3. Frank, Rick, and Trudi with the Cooper's Hawk.

4. Trudi doing the data recording.

5. Adult female Cooper's Hawk.

6. Trudi and Rick releasing the Cooper's Hawk.

7. A young female Sharp-shinned Hawk came in next.

8. Rick did the luring and net setting.

9. I did the banding.

10. Trudi releasing the shin.

11. Another young shin came in.

12. I got to release the second shin.

13. The last bird of the day was a Merlin.

14. Banding the Merlin and trying not to get bit!

15. Trudi, Mary, Don, Frank, Bruce, and Rick with the Merlin.

16. A Merlin.

17. Bruce gave Trudi and me one of his beautiful falcon carvings!

18. Sunday morning sunrise over the Mattson Farm.

19. First bird of the day was a young female Sharp-shinned Hawk.

20. Trudi and Rick with the shin.

21. Trudi releasing the shin.

22. Some American White Pelicans flew over the blind.

23. A male American Kestrel.

24. Frank and Trudi holding the kestrel.

25. A young male American Kestrel.

26. Rick releasing the kestrel.

27. A heavily molting Red-tailed Hawk coming in.

28. An adult Red-tailed Hawk.

29. Rick, Frank, and Trudi with the red-tail.

30. Rick releasing the red-tail.

31. Last bird of the weekend was a young male Sharp-shinned Hawk.

32. Trudi releasing the shin.

33. We quit at noon due to the extreme heat.

34. Our "tech genius" Rick saved us from overheating with his power-pack run fans.